Ballpoint fountain pen having a ballpoint refill



April 14, 197 A. o. BERGLEIN BALLPOINT FOUNTAIN PEN HAVING A BALLPOINT REFILL Filed July 15, 1968 United States Patent 3,506,369 BALLPOINT FOUNTAIN PEN HAVING A BALLPOINT REFILL Adolf Otto Berglein, 49 Widenmayerstreet, Munich, Germany Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 546,940, Sept. 19, 1966, which is a continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 362,528, Apr. 23, 1964. This application July 15, 1968, Ser. No. 745,043

Int. Cl. B43k 7/02 US. Cl. 401217 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A ballpoint fountain pen has a casing, a tubular refill in this casing, and a closure means at the rear end of the refill. The refill comprises in combination a tubular valve casing having a first section axially extensive with the rearward refill end and a second section having a smaller cross-section than the first section and defining a sharply edged annular valve seat for a valve member axially movable in the valve casing and having a first section with substantially spherical face opposite the sharp edged valve seat and a second-section being received and guided with narrow space for air passage through the second valve casing section and projecting rearwardly from the second valve casing section, annular abutment means in the first valve casing section at a predetermined distance from the first section of the valve member, and a spring axially between the first section of the valve member and the annular abutment means in the first valve casing section urging the first valve member section against the sharp-edged valve seat.

This application is a continuation-in-part application to the application Ser. No. 546,940, filed Sept. 19, 1966 with priority of German patent application B 75,365 of Feb. 10, 1964 and B 75,667 of Feb. 29, 1964, which was a continuation-in-part application to patent application Ser. No. 362,528, filed Apr. 23, 1964 with priority of German patent application B 75,365 of Feb. 10, 1964 and B 75,667 of Feb. 29, 1964, which was a continuation-inpart application to patent application Ser. No. 584,940, filed Sept. 19, 1966 with the priorities of the foregoing patent applications and the German patent application B 88,798 of Sept. 6, 1966.

A valve mechanism for use with ballpoint pens whereby when the pen is not in use the ink is sealed against the atmosphere. The valve opens to atmosphere when pen is in use. A convenient, air-tight mechanism is described and claimed.

This invention relates to a ballpoint fountain pen having a casing, a tubular ballpoint refill received by said casing and having a forward writing ball point projecting from said casing, a writing medium column within the tubular refill and closure means at the rearward end of said tubular refill for normally sealing said writing medium column against the atmosphere in order to prevent the deteriorating influence of the open air penetrating into the tubular refill and to prevent the flowing out of writing medium at the rearward end of the tubular refill in its non-writing position, in reversed position and during storage.

vIt is the object of the invention to improve the hitherto known means for this purpose consisting of floating pistons, fat layers upon the writing medium column, closure pieces having small air inlet openings, or spring loaded closure valve devices at the rear end of the refill, which are rather complicated or expensive in manufacturing and which are not sufiicient in use to prevent all defects. The employment of the tubular refill sleeve as part of the valve closure device complicates the manufacturing of 3,506,369 Patented Apr. 14, 1970 ice the refills and can be used only for small refills with small diameter and not for large refills with larger diameter or for plastic refills.

The known conical valve members having a conical or fiat valve seat, are not air-tight and therefore cannot avoid deteriorations of the writing medium column by the open air during non-use of the refill or during storage. If the tubular refills are made of plastic it is impossible to provide them with the known valve closure devices. The disposal of separating fat columns above the rearward surface of the writing column in large tubular refills with large diameter and open rear ends, the omission of a suitable air-tight valve closure device causes deterioration in the consistency of the fat column substance contacting the atmosphere and thus after some time of storage or non-use of the refill disturbances during writing occur.

It is a further object of the invention to avoid these drawbacks and disadvantages and to provide a novel and useful air-tight closure means for the refill, which may be manufactured separately and in a ver cheap manner and may easily be connected with any tubular refill without modifications of their mechanical and automatic manufacture on machines in large numbers and even as they are made of plastic.

Another object of the invention is to combine hitherto known means and devices in an improved, modified manner to employ their good qualities and characteristics but avoid their disadvantages.

This is obtained by a ballpoint fountain pen with an improved valve closure device for the refill which comprises in combination a tubular valve casing having two axial sections, one of said sections being axially coextensive with said rearward end of said tubular refill and sealingly engaging the same, the other section having a smaller cross section than said one section and defining therewith a valve seat having a sharply annular edge, a valve member axially movable in said valve casing and having first and second axial sections, integrally connected with each other, said first section having one face of substantially spherical 0r conical configuration with increasing diameter opposite said sharp-edged valve seat, and another face directed axially away from said valve seat in said one section of said valve casing, said second section of said valve member being received in said other section of said valve casing for axial movement and defining a control spindle projecting rearwardly from said other section of said valve casing to abut against the ballpoint pen casing, said second section of the valve member and said other section of said valve casing jointly constituting guide means for guiding a said one face of said first section of said valve member toward and away from a position of sealing engagement with sharp-edged said valve seat and jointly defining a narrow axial air passage, abutment means in said one section of said valve casing defining another axial air passage and being mounted in a predetermined distance from said first section of said valve member, a spring axially interposed between said abutment means and said other face of said first section of said valve member and urging said member toward said sharp-edged valve seat.

In the drawings some embodiments of the invention are schematically represented in an enlarged scale.

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal middle section of an embodiment of a valve closure device, in connection with a large tubular refill of relative large diameter, and having a valve member with spherical surface opposite a sharp edged valve seat.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal middle section of a modified embodiment of the valve closure device in connection with a large tubular refill and a valve member with conical surface opposite the sharp edged valve seat.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal section of a further embodiment of the valve closure device in connection with a. smaller tubular refill of relative small diameten and having a valve member with spherical surface opposite a sharp edged valve seat.

FIG. 4 is a cross section according to line IVIV of FIG. 3.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, 1 is a large tubular refill with a diameter of about4 mm. or more of a ballpoint fountain pen of metal or plastic at the rear end of which is attached a return valve closure device having a separate valve casing 2 of metal or plastic having two axial sections 2a and 2b, the first section 2a being axially coextensive connected with the rearward end of said tubular refill 1 and sealingly engaging the same. The second section 2b having a smaller cross section than the first section 2a and defining therewith a valve seat 3 having a sharply annular edge. Within said valve casing 2 there is disposed an axially movable valve member 4 of metal or plastic, having a first and a second axial section 5 and 6 respectively which are integrally connected with each other. The first section 6 has one face 6a of substantially spherical configuration opposite said sharp-edged valve seat 3, and another face 6b directed axially away from said valve seat 3 in said first section 2a of the valve casing 2. The second section 5 of the valve member 4 is received in said other section 2b of said valve casing 2 for axial movement and defines a control spindle projecting rearwardly from said other section 2b of said Valve casing 2 to abut against the known ballpoint pen casing (not shown in the drawing). The second section 5 of the valve member 4 and said other section 2b of the valve casing 2 constitute jointly guide means for said one face 6a of said first section 6 of said valve member 4 when it is moved toward and away from a position of sealing engagement with said sharp-edged valve seat 3 and define both jointly a narrow air passage. At the free end of said one section 2a of the valve casing 2 is secured an abutment means in the shape of an annular plate 8 defining another axial passage 8a and being mounted in a predetermined distance from said first section 6 of said valve member 4. The annular plate 8 has an outer flange 10 abuting against the free end of the one section 2a of said valve casing 2 and an inner annular projecting 9 projecting into said one section 2a of said valve casing 2 and being interconnected with said section 2a by interengaging opposite projecting means 11, 12. Between this annular abutment plate 8 and said other face 6b of said first section 6 of said valve member 4 there is disposed a pressure spring 7 which urges said valve member 4 with its section '6 and the spherical face 641 against said sharp edged valve seat 3. Said first section 2a is opposite the rear end of said tubular refill 1 provided with the abutment flange 13. The tubular refill is provided with the known writing ballpoint 14 and filled with writing medium, such as paste 16, the upper surface of which may be covered by a known fat layer 17. For the rearward end of said valve spring 7 may be provided in the face 6b of the valve member section 6 a central recess 60 (FIG. 2) or a central stud 6d (FIG. 1).

The first section 6 of the valve member 4 may have an outer diameter, which is preferably nearly the same as the inner diameter of the selection 2a of the valve casing 2 with a very small space for allowing sliding movement of said valve member in the section 2a of the valve casing 2. Only one or several small recesses are provided in the circumference of the section 2a of the valve member 4 to allow air passage during writing action when the refill is pressed backward and the air valve member 4 is in open position, but prevent passage of writing paste or fat material of the covering fat layer on the paste columnf In FIG. 2 the structure of the valve closure device is only modified, in that the surface 6a of the section 6 of the valve member 4 is made conical instead of spherical.

The first section 6 of said valve member 4 may have an outer diameter equal to the inner diameter of said valve casing section 2a with small space at the circumference for small passage of air during writing operation. This small passage of air may be designed by reducing the outer diameter of said first section '6 of said valve member 4 with respect to the inner diameter of said valve casing section 2a to a small annular slit or by one or more very small axial grooves.

At the embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 4 the valve casing 2 is preferably made of plastic and attached to the rearward end of a smaller refill 15 with relative small diameter of about 2.8% mm. For this purpose the valve casing section 2e having larger diameter is made longer than the valve casing section 2a in FIGS. 1 and 2 and provided with inner axial grooves 18 in which an annular abutment plate 19 for the valve spring 7 engages with outwardly projecting tongues 18b axially abutting against the ends 18a of said axial grooves 18 and securing the position of the annular abutment plate 19 for the valve spring 7 in a distance from the valve member 4. The rearward end of the smaller refill '15 abuts against the annular plate 19 having a central air passage hole 20 which may be circular or of any other shape. From the annular abutment plate 19 tongues 21 may be bent upwardly to be surrounded from the end of the valve spring 7. When the annular abutment plate 19 is made of plastic the tongues 21 are formed integrally with the plate 19.

What I claim is:

1. In a ballpoint fountain pen having a casing, a tubular refill received by the casing having a forward writing ballpoint and projecting from the casing, a writing medium column within the tubular refill and closure means at the rearward end of the tubular refill for normally sealing the writing medium column against the deteriorating influence of the air in the atmosphere, the improvement comprising in combination, a separate integral valve casing having two axial sleeve sections of different diameter, a first sleeve section of larger diameter being coaxially coupled with said rearward end of said tubular refill and sealingly engaging the same, the second sleeve section having a smaller diameter than said first sleeve section, and a sharp-edged annular valve seat between said two axial sleeve sections, a valve member axially movable in said valve casing and having a first and a second axial section, integrally connected with each other, said first section defining a valve body having one face of substantially spherical configuration opposite said sharp-edged valve seat, said second valve member section being received in said other valve casing section for axial movement and defining a control spindle projecting rearwardly from said other valve casing section to abut against the ball-point pen casing, said second valve member section and said other valve casing section jointly constituting guide means for guiding said one face of said first valve member section toward and away from a position of sealing engagement with said sharp-edged valveseat and jointly defining a narrow axial air passage, an annular abutment means in said one valve casing section being mounted in a predetermined distance from said valve body, a spring axially interposed between said abutment means and said valve body and urging said valve body toward said sharp-edged valve seat, said annular abutment means including a plate-like annular member having an axial projection inter-engaging said one valve casing section having larger diameter.

2. In a ballpoint fountain pen having a casing, a tubular refill received by the casing having a forward writing ball point and projecting from the casing, a writingniedium column with the tubular refill and closure means at the rearward end of the tubular refillfor normally sealing said writing medium column against the deteriorating in. fiuence of the air in the atmosphere, the improvement comprising in combination, a separate integral valve casing having two axial sleeve sections of different diameters, a first sleeve section of larger diameter being coaxially coupled with said rearward end of said tubular refill and sealingly engaging the same, the second sleeve section having a smaller diameter than said first sleeve section, and a sharpedged annular valve seat between said two sleeve sections, a valve member axially movable in said valve casing and having first and second axial sections, integrally connected with each other, said first section defining a valve body having one face of substantially conical configuration with increasing diameter opposite said sharp-edged valve seat, said second valve member section being received in said other valve casing section for axial movement and defining a control spindle projecting rearwardly from said other valve casing section to abut against the ballpoint pen casing, said second valve member section and said other valve casing section jointly constituting guide means for guiding said one face of said first valve member section toward and away from a position of sealing engagement with said sharp-edged valve seat and jointly defining a narrow axial air passage, an annular abutment means in said one valve casing section being mounted in a predetermined distance from said valve body, a spring axially interposed between said abutment means and said valve body and urging said valve body toward said sharp-edged valve seat, said annular abutment means including a plate-like annular member having an axial annular projection inter-engaging said one valve casing section having the larger diameter.

3. The ballpoint fountain pen as recited in claim 1, wherein an air passageway is provided between the outer circumference of said valve body section and the inner circumference of said valve casing section of larger diameter.

4. The ballpoint fountain pen as recited in claim 1, wherein said valve body has an outer diameter which is almost equal to the inner diameter of said first valve casing section to permit sliding axial movement of said valve body in said valve casing section, and small recesses provided in the circumference of said valve body for air passages and preventing the passing of writing paste.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,489,976 11/1949 Perwas 1178 2,787,249 4/1957 Barlow et a1 40'1-184 2,938,499 5/1960 Lindenbaum 141-20.5 3,065,732 11/1962 Fejes 401112 LAWRENCE CHARLES, Primary Examiner 

